Greek Combat Going Global

Chicago-area Instructors Promote Pankration, A Historic Martial Art To Be Featured In 2004 Games.

December 03, 1998|By Lynn Van Matre, Tribune Staff Writer.

Sandwiched between other storefronts in a small strip mall on busy Illinois Highway 53 in Addison, Saviano's White Tiger karate school seems far removed from Olympic glory. But owner and veteran martial arts instructor Tom Saviano is poised to play a pivotal role in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens--and he's already studying Greek.

Saviano, who began martial arts training in the 1960s and now counts police officers and FBI agents among his students, recently was appointed chairman of the Referee Committee for Team USA in martial arts events at the 2004 Olympics.

Keith Hackney, a Medinah resident who has studied martial arts for 20 years, was appointed the team's national head coach. Olympics protocol demands that they speak Greek while refereeing and coaching at the Games.

"Learning the language is a bit tough, because the Greek alphabet is different," Saviano acknowledged. "But going to the Olympics is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Saviano and Hackney, along with John Townsley of Palatine and Nick Petmezas of Long Grove, were part of an American delegation that recently traveled to Greece and met with Greek government officials to discuss introducing martial arts to the Olympics for the first time since Korea brought tae kwon do to the Games as a demonstration sport in 1988.

The Greeks agreed that martial arts should be part of the 2004 Games, and, with literally hundreds of varieties of fighting styles to choose from, gave the nod to an ancient form of combat known as pankration.

The style, which translates roughly in English to "all strength," was developed by warriors and is considered "the mother of all martial arts," according to Saviano.

Though far less well-known in the United States than karate, tae kwon do or jujitsu, the virtually no-holds-barred fighting system dates to 1700 B.C. in Greece and was the direct forerunner of kung fu and karate, according to Townsley, who serves as president of the Pan-American Union of Pankration and appointed Saviano and Hackney to their posts.

"Pankration can be vicious," said Townsley, a martial arts master who has spent more than 40 years studying and teaching. "There are records of numerous deaths in pankration matches during Olympics in ancient Greece.

"But there will be rules at the 2004 Olympics that will make it extremely safe. There will be no strangleholds allowed, just punching, kicking, foot-sweeping moves and submission holds."

Though more than five years remain until the Olympics in Athens, participants said that time actually is "extremely short" considering the efforts it will take to get the U.S. pankration Olympics program in gear and field a top-ranked team of male and female competitors.

"According to International Olympic Committee rules, the team has to be 20 to 30 percent women, but I don't think that will be a problem," Townsley said. "Pankration emphasizes grace and beauty; the athletes come up laughing and smiling as they compete."

Plans call for the USA Federation to hold pankration tournaments in Chicago and elsewhere beginning in 1999 to determine Olympic qualifiers, Townsley said. Saviano will begin training as a referee in January under the guidance of three referees from Greece who will come to Addison; Hackney will begin training athletes in February.

Hackney, who owns a heating and air-conditioning firm, said he will take time off from his business to coach and conduct pankration seminars for potential Olympic contenders at martial arts studios throughout the country. The pankration Team USA head coach, who will be 46 in 2004, also hopes to compete in the Games.

"Realistically, I'm not an average 40-year-old now, and in 2004 I probably will be in the best shape of my life," said Hackney, who has trained with Saviano and beat the Greek pankration champion in a friendly bout while in Greece. "I've been fighting no-holds-barred style for about five years, and pankration is pretty much the same principle. I'm looking forward to next year's tournaments."

Many of Saviano's students said that they were eager to learn pankration, though they have no plans to attempt to qualify for the Olympics.

"I don't know too much about pankration, but I'm all for it, because learning different styles and techniques can only be beneficial," said Bill Moy, a loan officer with a mortgage brokerage firm in Naperville who has studied kenpo-style karate for seven years. According to Moy, the lessons he learned from his study of martial arts helped him receive an MBA degree last year from North Central College in Naperville while holding down a demanding full-time job.

"Karate helped me learn how to focus on life in general," Moy said. "Working out taught me that whatever you do, you should concentrate just on that. I'm definitely interested in learning pankration."